Amphibians are probably the most vulnerable group to climate change and climate-change associate diseases. This ongoing biodiversity crisis makes it thus imperative to improve the taxonomy of anurans in biodiverse but understudied areas such as Amazonia. In this study, we applied robust integrative taxonomic methods combining genetic (mitochondrial 16S, 12S and COI genes), morphological and environmental data to delimit species of the genus Amazophrynella (Anura: Bufonidae) sampled from throughout their pan-Amazonian distribution. Our study confirms the hypothesis that the species diversity of the genus is grossly underestimated. Our analyses suggest the existence of eighteen linages of which seven are nominal species, three Deep Conspecific Lineages, one Unconfirmed Candidate Species, three Uncategorized Lineages, and four Confirmed Candidate Species and described herein. We also propose a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus and discuss its implications for historical biogeography of this Amazonian group.
The region of Carajás in the southeast of the state of Pará, Brazil, harbors five reserves, with various managing categories, distributed throughout five municipalities. A list of amphibians known to occur in this region was compiled using information on the specimens deposited in the herpetological collection of the Goeldi Museum, collected during the past four decades (1969 - 2010). According to the available metadata, the species were tabulated in three environments: ombrophylous forest (rainforest), metalophic savanna (MS) and anthropic areas (AA - secondary forest - disturbed areas), resulting in 13 families and 71 species (66 anurans and 5 Gymnophiona). Ombrophylous forest has 50 species, anthropic areas has 49 species, while metalophic savanna has 38 species of anuran.
The factors explaining species turnover at different spatial scales have been intensively studied, but most work in Amazonia has mainly focused on plants. For animals, it is not as obvious which environmental variables most affect differences in species composition among sites. We sought to identify what causes anuran turnover in Amazonian terra firme forests, and how the effectiveness of these factors varies among regions and across spatial scales. We sampled frogs in 56 plots along ponds and streams distributed over three terra firme forest areas in Eastern Amazonia. Using multiple regressions on distance matrices, we partitioned the variation in species turnover into components explained by variation in environmental and spatial distances. This was done in parallel for each area separately, and for all areas together, to assess the consistency of results between scales and across areas at the same scale. Each community seemed to respond to a set of factors specific to that area, and the identity of the variables that emerged as significant differed among areas and scales. Both geographical distances and environmental differences had larger explanatory power at the regional scale than at the local scale. The large differences among results from different areas caution against making broad generalizations about species turnover patterns from a single community, as real differences may exist among areas.
Abstract:Here we report the first record of Cruziohyla craspedopus from Pará, Brazil, showing the presence of this species also in eastern Amazon. The new record is based on a juvenile specimen collected in the left side margin of the Tapajós River, in a well-preserved upland forest area.
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